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Fair Trade Archive: GTW E-Newsletters, Action Alerts, and Updates

National And International Opposition to the MAI

In February 1998, more than 600 organizations from 67 countries released a joint statement today calling for the suspension of negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment until substantive and procedural concerns are met. The draft MAI "elevates the rights of investors far above those of governments, local communities, citizens, workers and the environment," the statement declares.

"Citizens from all over the world are united against this stealth MAI," said Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "Citizens will not allow the MAI to handcuff their democracies. It is no wonder that opposition to the MAI is the fastest growing international citizens' movement."

"The MAI would give corporations unprecedented power to directly challenge governments' environmental, health, labor and other safeguards," said Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth. "The MAI would be a dagger through the heart of democracy."

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